VOTE: Balloting underway for Clemente Award
Players to be recognized for community, philanthropic efforts; voting ends Sept. 29
Major League Baseball announced the 30 club nominees for the 2019 Roberto Clemente Award, the most prestigious individual award for Major League players. The Roberto Clemente Award is the annual recognition of a Major League player who best represents the game of baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field. The nominees will be officially recognized on Wednesday, Sept.18, marking the 18th annual Roberto Clemente Day, which was established by Major League Baseball to honor the late Hall of Famer’s legacy as a humanitarian.
Every year, each MLB club nominates a player to be considered for the Award in tribute to Clemente’s achievements and character. This year’s list of nominees features players whose various community and philanthropic activities have focused on important issues ranging from awareness and fundraising to support those with cancer and other illnesses or special needs, education for young people, natural disaster relief, outreach to underserved children and communities in the United States and abroad, and more.
The 30 club nominees of the 2019 Roberto Clemente Award are listed below:
Arizona Diamondbacks – Eduardo Escobar
Atlanta Braves – Charlie Culberson
Baltimore Orioles – Chris Davis
Boston Red Sox – Brock Holt
Chicago Cubs – Jon Lester
Chicago White Sox – Tim Anderson
Cincinnati Reds – Michael Lorenzen
Cleveland Indians – Carlos Carrasco
Colorado Rockies – Ian Desmond
Detroit Tigers – Miguel Cabrera
Houston Astros – Alex Bregman
Kansas City Royals – Alex Gordon
Los Angeles Angels – Andrew Heaney
Los Angeles Dodgers – Kenley Jansen
Miami Marlins – Martín Prado
Milwaukee Brewers – Chase Anderson
Minnesota Twins – Kyle Gibson
New York Mets – Steven Matz
New York Yankees – CC Sabathia
Oakland Athletics – Liam Hendriks
Philadelphia Phillies – Rhys Hoskins
Pittsburgh Pirates – Trevor Williams
San Diego Padres – Hunter Renfroe
San Francisco Giants – Pablo Sandoval
Seattle Mariners – Dee Gordon
St. Louis Cardinals – Adam Wainwright
Tampa Bay Rays – Kevin Kiermaier
Texas Rangers – Elvis Andrus
Toronto Blue Jays – Randal Grichuk
Washington Nationals – Anthony Rendon*
*2019 MLB All-Star
More information can be found at MLB.com/clemente21.
Clubs playing at home on Wednesday, Sept. 18 will recognize their local nominees as part of Roberto Clemente Day ceremonies. Away clubs will honor their nominees on a subsequent home stand. As part of the league-wide celebration, the Roberto Clemente Day logo will appear on the bases and official dugout lineup cards and a special tribute video will be played in ballparks.
The league-wide winner of the Roberto Clemente Award will be selected via a blue ribbon panel, including Baseball Commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr., representatives from MLB-affiliated networks (MLB Network, FOX Sports, ESPN and TBS) and MLB.com, as well as Vera Clemente (the late Roberto’s wife and MLB Goodwill Ambassador). Beginning today, fans can vote for the overall winner of the Roberto Clemente Award via a dedicated website. The site will feature bios of each of the nominees and will allow fans to vote until the end of the season on Sunday, Sept. 29. The winner of the fan vote will count as one vote among those cast by the blue ribbon panel. Fans are encouraged to vote by visiting the following link: mlb.com/clemente21.
The concept of honoring Major League players for their philanthropic work was created in 1971 as the “Commissioner’s Award.” The recognition was renamed to the “Roberto Clemente Award” in 1973 in honor of the Hall of Famer and 15-time All-Star who died in a plane crash on New Year’s Eve 1972 while attempting to deliver supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.